Non-gluten flours?

Cafe Society
#1

We’re going gluten-minimal in my household (long story) and I am testing out some wheat flour alternatives. I haven’t had a lot of experience yet, but I have learned:

–Almond meal–nice crust for pan fried chicken or fish, not good for thickening a sauce like piccata

–Arrowroot flour–acceptable crust, will thicken a pan sauce but to a sort of gluey consistency, not as smooth as wheat flour

Any advice or recommendations?

ETA, I don’t plan on doing any baking; I’m looking for recommendations for cooking. EG, what can I use for a nice roux?

#2

Glutinous rice (sticky not gluten) flour can work, but will have a different color because the maillard reaction differs from the gluten-glucose reaction.

I haven’t used it to avoid gluten but have used sweet rice flour in similar ways, you just can’t use color and it will burn so plan on using a timer.

At least in my experiance sweet rice flour work for gravy and white sauces.

#3

Lots of people use tapioca flour as a thickener, even if they don’t need to follow a GF diet.

#4

Corn starch is a good thickener.

#5

I’ll add a warning from my first experience using it for gravy after my sister went gluten free. It can be easy to over thicken if you are looking at something still warm. I got it to about what seemed like the right consistency if I was using wheat flour while still on low heat. As it cooled before serving it just kept thickening. My family jokes about gravy jello.

#6

Google is your friend…

#7

I’ve never tried it, but potato flour seems like it’d be worth a try. Bob’s makes some, and I see it in the kosher section of the grocery store, too.

#8

Sure, I can google the other flours, but I was looking for personal experiences. Of course the maker of X flour or the recipe that uses Y flour is going to say that it’s great.

Corn starch I’ve used for gravy, and I do find it can get overly thick fast–in turkey gravy that’s not so bad, but a lot of sauces call for a thickened but looser texture, or so I feel.

#9

I’ve been using a flour mix, based mostly on corn, rice and potato. Both bechamel and brown gravy turns out fine. My cheese soufflé turned out awesome.

#10

My wife is allergic to grass, which also includes wheat. Although she is not specifically gluten-intolerant, we have found that by going gluten-free, she doesn’t have the itching that wheat produces. When we found out her allergies – grass (including wheat), eggs, and mold (including mushrooms) – I took over the cooking.

I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour and Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Flour. The Brown Rice flour is really good for thickening gravies and sauces. The All Purpose flour is good for pancakes.